How should a fresh grad start investing? Just started FT for 4 months - recently opened CDP, applied credit card, built up emergency funds, now what?

Hi anon,

Wow. That's great!

According to our Seedly Money Framework, you've covered all bases except one last pillar before Investing. And that's... Insurance!

As a fresh grad, you're young and probably aren't too concerned about this. But hear me out.

Depending on your work environment (eg. is it a high-risk environment where you're prone to accidents and etc.) and what kind of insurance coverage your company provides you, you might want to get enough insurance to cover yourself.

So why insurance? You might think that you're still young and don't need to be protected... But if you have dependants like your parents or other siblings who rely on you to bring home the bacon, it's not a bad idea to be properly protected just in case you meet with an unfortunate accident (touchwood) and are unable to work or (worse) pass away prematurely.

Or let's say you have a family history of certain medical conditions, then it's not a bad idea to take out a health insurance policy when you're healthy, before the onset of such illnesses.

If you need help figuring out what you need, you can check out these key insurance policies that you should get. FYI: you don't need everything, just figure out what you need and get sufficiently protected.

Once you've settled this, you might wanna check out our Ultimate Investing Guide.

Which should answer the rest of your investment-related questions!

Good luck and remember to always do your due diligence!

Hi there,

There are many factors in choosing a trading platform. Some things to look at include the trading commissions cost, UX, service, forex rate (if you're trading in a foreign stock exchange) etc. You can easily read up on articles that compare the different Brokers. Personally I use FSMOne and it's pretty intuitive. Some of these Brokers utilise custodian accounts instead of CDP so you may want to do a check.

For starters, you may want to learn to read certain financial fundamentals if you're stock picking Eg. Profit/Loss, EBIT, EBITDA, CAPEX, Current Assets/Liabilities, Net Income etc. The idea is to buy a profitable company that is sustainable too. Also understanding certain concepts eg. Investment moats, business models, business cycles etc.

Also, how will diversifying work for you? Will it be sufficient for your investment portfolio to consist of growth stocks? What if it tanks and can you stomach that volatility without selling it immediately If it tanks? Growth stocks are highly volatile so you may want to diversify out across the different industries, asset classes etc.

Lastly, you may want to sort out your insurance first Before looking into investing. Insurance forms the first tier of financial planning so in the event something unfortunate happens, your investments need not be liquidated to meet your medical needs. If you're single, at least sort out your hospitalisation and CI needs first.

Financial planning is an integral part of life. You can reach me here to find out more.